JEFF PRESTRIDGE: We shouldn't have to rely on foreign watchdogs to guard our nest eggs

Financial Mail has led the way in warning about the dangers of foreign banks that flocked to do business in Britain but did not sign up to UK regulation, or participate in our savings protection scheme.

In August 2008, for instance, we pointed out the worrying fact that Icelandic banks had more British customers than there were people in Iceland – and, worse, that savers’ money was not protected under UK regulations.

‘How would the tiny country cope with a Northern Rock-style collapse?’ we asked.

Savings: No British saver should be expected to trust a foreign regulator

Weeks later, Iceland’s banks were bust. Iceland couldn’t cope, and our own Government had to step in and mop up the mess – at taxpayers’ expense.

Next we pointed out an outrageous risk being posed by none other than the Post Office.

Savings accounts promoted by the Post Office were in fact provided by a joint venture with the Bank of Ireland which, again, did not come under the wing of Britain’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

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Thankfully, the Post Office saw sense – nudged not a little by Financial Mail – and restructured its venture, bringing all its savings accounts under the FSCS from October 2010.

Then came Cyprus. As early as 2011 we warned about what might happen in that tiny, Greece-exposed country, and again we played our part in persuading Bank of Cyprus UK to sign up to the British protection scheme last July.

Thank goodness. I’m sure its 50,000 savers are mightily relieved. It’s just a shame that British customers of Laiki Bank, also known as Cyprus Popular Bank, must rely on the Cyprus Deposit Protection Scheme to protect the first 100,000 euros (£85,300) of their deposits if the bank collapses.

As well as Laiki, some other small banks, notably Dutch-owned Triodos, still take British savers’ money without subscribing to the FSCS.

This is wrong. After all that we have been through in the past five years, no British saver should be expected to trust a foreign regulator – whatever the strength of that nation’s economy – to come to the rescue if a bank goes bust.